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Marital Problems Drive Father to Kill His Four Children Then Himself

Submitted by ndcadmin on Wed, 2006-07-05 03:17.

family suicide after divorce
In Gustine, California, a woman returned to her home to find her four children and her husband dead. It is thought that the couple had been seen arguing earlier and that he later shot their children while they were sleeping and then turned the gun on himself. No motive was released for this suicide murder.

Neighbors said the family had appeared to be a good, happy, healthy family.

Observation About Divorce, Violence, Suicide, and Murder

Domestic violence is always tragic. Sometimes we learn about a long history of abuse and violence. It's not surprising when we hear about a crazy man who had kept his family in sexual abuse for decades and suddenly kills many of his family members, or when a woman who has had a history of crazy and abusive behavior suddenly murders her husband or children.

But, when the most gentle and loving people mysteriously snap and do the unthinkable we cannot help but wonder why.

Recently we learned about a man shooting a judge in Reno after killing his wife. The first question that came to mind when I learned about this on the news was whether this judge was a family court judge. I later learned he was indeed a family court judge.

It makes sense that a dangerous criminal might want to take revenge against the judge who put him or her away. However, when a man who was thought to be good and faithful suddenly gets robbed of everything precious one would expect him to be very upset, but they would still ordinarily try to find a remedy within the system.

However, with unjust forced divorce, frustration can become extreme. Fear grows. Hopelessness increases. All trust is lost, and there is a feeling that one's family and one's fellow citizens are constantly under the threat of injustice and the only way to get rid of it is by self-sacrifice and violence.

Others try to correct things through the proper legal channels and refuse to give up. Others give up disgusted with the system, and they just long for the day their children become adults. They know the nation they once loved has taken away their children and saddled them with an unfair and unreasonable financial burden, but they make their peace with this as it seems there is no other choice.

Other faithful parents are overcome with grief and hopelessness and commit suicide when robbed of their families. In fact, this is the one statistic that seems to be most closely tied to divorce across all cultures.

With this and all the horrors that children of divorce go through, doesn't it make more sense for our nation to handle divorce cases with a little more integrity and decency and find ways to succeed in marriage rather than fail? Doesn't it make sense to get all the help available to deal with depression rather than increase the problem by adding suicide and violence to the mix?

Resources for Information on Suicide and Depression